News Briefs: People and Programs at UAF

Published: October 18, 2010

Seifert takes new sustainability role within Cooperative Extension Service Rich Seifert, the longtime “energy guy” for the UAF Cooperative Extension Service, has a new role as community sustainability coordinator for Extension. Seifert will help Alaska communities become as self-sufficient as possible and will work to meet the needs for increasing energy, food and health security. Seifert and Extension will provide the link between the university and communities that need current, research-based information in these areas. He will also work with existing community sustainability organizations in all regions of the state and provide opportunities for them to share information. Seifert served as Extension’s energy specialist for 28 years, and retired from the university June 30. He began his new position Sept. 9 but will continue some of his energy education work until a replacement is hired. Seifert is available at 907-474-7201 or by e-mail at rdseifert@alaska.edu.

Boyer named head of Center for Alaska Native Health Research Bert Boyer has been named director for the Center for Alaska Native Health Research, part of the Institute of Arctic Biology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Boyer has been serving as acting director since February, when CANHR director Gerald Mohatt died. Boyer, who was the center’s co-founder along with Mohatt, is the principal investigator of several CANHR genetics studies. Boyer is a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology. He will give an overview of CANHR at the Alaska Federation of Natives at 10:25 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 22.

New librarian takes helm at Geophysical Institute’s Keith B. Mather Library Former Vassar College science librarian Flora Grabowska was recently named the new librarian and research assistant professor at the Keith B. Mather Library at the UAF Geophysical Institute. At Vassar, Grabowska was a strong proponent of open access, which is a move to provide scientists, teachers, students and the public free and unrestricted use of research published in scholarly journals. Before earning her master’s degree in library science in 1981, Grabowska was a scientist herself. She worked in biochemistry at the University of British Columbia and at the Macaulay Institute for Soil Research in the United Kingdom. The Keith B. Mather Library is the most northern special library in the Unites States. The library has a number of special collections, including the largest aurora collection in the country. Although the library supports the GI and IARC, it’s open to the public Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The library is located in Room 202 of the Akasofu Building on UAF’s West Ridge.

UAF Alumni Association elects board members, officers This spring, the University of Alaska Fairbanks Alumni Association elected several new board members and officers. New board members include Jim Dixon of Fairbanks, Dani Carlson of Fairbanks, Sam Enoka of San Francisco and Tania Clucas of Fairbanks. During the meeting, the board elected new officers, including Randy Pitney of Fairbanks, president; Dan Flodin of Chugiak, vice president; DeShana York of Anchorage, secretary; and Derek Miller of Fairbanks, treasurer. Edit Module

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